Following the misguided effort to impose card checks on Corporate America, congress is now proposing the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2007. The intent of the act is to have in place a federalized collective-bargaining procedure for police officers, firefighters, and any other entity that deals with public safety. The Act is further evidence that a Democratically controlled congress is in the pocket of organized labor.
All but twelve states already have rules and regulations governing collective bargaining for public employees, and this new act is not designed merely to help those twelve states. It is designed to give a bargaining edge to all public employees, putting states and cities at a disadvantage.
The proposed Act will permit the Federal Labor Relations Authority to make over-riding decisions about the collective-bargaining procedures of states and cities. Furthermore, it will give preference to the opinion of affected employee organizations. In effect, union voices will be heard loud and clear.
While local public safety employees are being given enhanced leverage for collective bargaining, employees of the FBI and CIA are still not permitted to engage in collective bargaining, for it might compromise public safety. One wonders why local police are considered any less valuable to homeland security than national ones. The answer, of course, is that Democratic politicians want the endorsements of police and firefighter unions going into the 2008 elections.
